Peters



:UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES S. DORAN AND S. MORRIS LILLIE, OF. PHILADELPHIA, PA.

LUBRICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forrning part of Letters Patent No. 240,509, dated April 26, 1881.

Application filed February 26,1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, JAMES S. DORAN and S. Mortals LILLIE, citizens ofth'e United States,

and residents of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Lubricators, of which the following is'a specification, in which reference is bad to the accompanying drawing.

Our invention relates to that class of lubricators the purpose of which is the introduction of a lubricant into steam-mains leading to the cylinders of engines, whereby the latter are lubricated, the steam serving as a conveyor of the lubricant to the various parts.

The invention consists of a small closed cyl inder connected from bothends with the steammain, and divided transversely into two sections of different diameters, having a common piston in the shape of a hollow plunger, one end of which is adapted to the interior of the smaller section or cylinder, and the other, by means of ashoulder encircling it, to the interior of the larger section. The smaller section is designed for holding the oil, from which it is forced into the steam-main by the pressure of the steam on the larger end of the plunger in the other and larger section of the cylinder. The cylinder, or lubricator, as we shall term it, is furnished with various fittings, as fully described in this specification andillustrated in the accompanying sectional view of the drawin g.

In the drawing, M is a section of the steammain into which the lubricant is to be introduced.

A B is an axial section of the cylindrical lubricator. (Shown in a vertical position-4. 6., with its axis vertical.) It consists of the two cylinders A and -B,opening into each other and having a common axis, the former and lower of which has the smaller diameter, and is designed to hold the oil or lubricant, while the upper one, B, having the larger diameter, is to serve as a steamcylinder.

The upper end of the lubricator is closed by the screw-cap G, which may be removed to have access to the interior, and the lower end either solidly, as shown in drawing, or with a screw and removable cap similar to that with which the upper end is closed.

The upper or steam cylinder, B, communicates through the cap 0 and connecting-pipe f, provided with the valve h, with the steammain M, and the lower or oil cylinder, A, connects with the same through the tube lr, having various fittings, as hereinafter described. D is a hollow cylindrical plunger or piston having an external diameter the same as or a trifle less than that of the interior of the oil-cylindcrtA, to which its lower end is adapted by the packing a. The upper extremity of the plunger is adapted to the interior ot the upper or steam cylinder, B, to serve as a piston in the same, by means of an encircling-shoulder, b, and packing c. a

Between the walls of the steam-cylinder B and the plunger D is an annular space, closed above and below respectively by the shoulder b of the plunger and the shoulder J17, formed at the juncture of the two cylinders A and B. This annular space communicates "with the atmosphere through the holes 2' i, piercing the The plunger is open at its upper but closed at its lower extremity, through which it communicates with the atmosphere by means of the drip-pipe cl, extending through the bottom of the cylinder A, and closed belowithe same by the pet-cock c. This construction of the plunger insures the keeping of the lubricant in the chamber'A warm and fluid in virtue of the hot steam with which the plunger is filled while the lubricator is in operation.

E is a cup havingits mouth up, and communicatin g through the tube a and cook 0 with the interior of the cylinder A, by which the latter may be filled with oil by pouringthe same into the cup and simultaneously raising theplunger D, which will suck the oil from the cup through the tube a into the cylinder.

Opening into the steam-cylinder B through the cap 0 is a pipe, L, which may be opened or closed by the cook 70, and which serves either as a communication between'the steam-cylinder and a condenser, or else as a means for introducing a jet of cold water into tlie steamcylinder for the condensation of the steam therein, the object in either case being to furnish means of inducing a partial vacuum in the cylinder B above the plunger Dflwhen it is wished to fill the cylinder A with oil, sothat,

above the plunger, any oil poured into the cup E will, urged by the atmospheric pressure, flow through the tube a, the cock 0 being open, into the cylinder A, raise the plunger, and fill the cylinder.

The pipe 1', connecting the oil-cylinder with the steam-main M, is provided with the two cocks s and s, between which is a short branching tube, 10, having a cock, 8, and opening into the upper end of the vertical glass tube F, with which it makes a hermetic joint.

The lower end of the glass tube F terminates in a fitting, M, which connects from one side with the steam main M through the tube 15, provided with a cock, v, and has the pet-cock 2, through which the glass tube and fitting u may be emptied of any oil or condensed steam that may collect therein.

The operation and the method of using the lubricator are as follows: Supposing that the piston or plunger D is raised, that the cylinder Ais filled with the oil, and that the valve h in the steam-pipe f, the cock is in the Waterpipe L, and the cock s in the tube 1 are closed, the flow of the oil from the oil-cylinder of the lubricator through the tube 1" into the steammain and the regulation of the same are effected thus: First open the valve h in the steam-pipe f to permit the flow of the steam into the steam-cylinder B above the plunger D, close the cock 8, which will close all communication with the steam-main through the pipe 1", open the cock 4) in. the tube it connecting the steam-main M with the bottom of the glass tube F, which insures the same pressure in the latter as in the former, open the petcock 2 at the lower end of the glass tube, and draw off from the same any water and oil that may have collected therein, and then close it again, and finally open the cock 8 at the upper end of the glass tube F. If, now, the cock sis opened, the pressure of the steam upon the upper end of the piston or plunger D will, in virtue of the latter'havin g a greater area than that of the lower end of the plunger in the oil cylinder A, press the plunger down and force the oil in Athrough the tube rinto the glass tube F. Thus open the cock 8, and set it so that the oil will drop or pass into the glass tube F at the rate at which it is wished it should flow into the steam-main. The cock 8 having been thus set, close the cock 8 and open the cock .9, after which the oil will flow through the tube r into the steam-main M at the same rate at which it had before passed into the glass tube F, as the resistance to the flow of the oil is the same in both cases.

The cocks s ands and the glass tube F, with its connections, together form means by which the flow of oil from the lubricator into the steam-main may be accurately regulated by the cock 8.

The glass tube F and its connections, though advantageous, are not necessary to the regulating of the flow of oil through the pipe 1" into the steam-main M, for though without it .the flow of the oil from the cock 8 would be into the atmosphere and against atmospheric pressure, after a little experience one would be able to judge of the flow of oil through the piperinto the steam-main from its flow through the cock 8 into the atmosphere, and so could regulate the former by the latter.

The oil-cylinder A of the lubricator having been emptied of oil by the completion of the downstroke of the piston or plunger D, it is filled again as follows: Close the cock 8 in the tube 1" and the valve h in the steam-pipef and open the cook in the pipe L. in virtue of which a vacuum, or partial vacuum, will be formed above the piston or plunger D in the cylinder B, as hereinbefore described. Then open the cock 0 in the tube a, connecting the oil-cylinder of the lubricatorwith the cup E, and pour oil into the latter as fastas it flows from the same into the cylinder until the cylinder is filled. This done, close the cooks 0 and k and open the steam-valve h and the cock 8 in the tube 1", when the flow of oil from the lubricator into the steam-main will commence and continue until the oil-cylinder is again emptied. The cock 0 in the drip-pipe (1 should also be opened for a moment to draw off from the plunger D any water there may be in it, after which it should be closed-or rather should be left open sufficiently, and no more, to permit the water constantly forming in the steamcylinder and collecting in the plunger to flow from the latter as fast as formedthus insurin g that the plunger shall always be filled with steam, and consequently hot, to keep the lubricant in the cylinder A warm and fluid.

During the filling of the cylinder A with oil, as above described, the cock e in the drip-pipe d should be entirely closed.

The formation of a vacuum above the plunger D in the steam-cylinder to raise the former while refilling the oil-cylinder with oil is not a necessary, but simply a convenient, way of doing it, as the plunger might be raised by opening the cock 0 in the drip-pipe d and pressing up the latter. In the case of lubricators in which the latter mode of raising the plunger D is to be practiced, the fittings of the lubricator might include a lever pivoted to a fulcrum projecting from the bottom or side of the lubricator, and having the extremity of one arm connected with the drip-pipein a suitable manner, while the other arm would serve as a handle, by the pressing down of which the drip-pipe d and plunger D would be raised.

The connection of the oil-cylinder of the lubricator with the steam-main may be varied from that shown in the drawing by having the vertical glass tube F located above the steam-main, with theconnecting-tnbe tinclined downward from it to the main, so that any oil dropping or flowing from the cock 8 through the glass tube F would flow down through the connecting-pipe t into the main. Arranged thus the cock 3 and the communication with the steam-main, which it closes, would not be needed, as the flow of the oil into the steammain would be through the glass tube F and the connecting-pipe t, which latter should have a sufficiently large bore, so that there would be no danger of the oil clogging it.

In the drawing the lubricator is shown with its axis vertical, and with the steam-cylinder B uppermost; but it is evident that it may be placed in any position, though if reversed, bringing the steam-cylinder underneath, or if placed with its axis horizontal, a drip-cock should communicate with the interior of the steam-cylinder B through the cap 0, through which the condensed steam might be drawn 011'. and also the position of the cup Eshould be changed, so that its mouth would be up.

One of the great advantages of this lubricator is that wherever it may be located, near to or remote from the steam-main into which the oil is forced, the lubricant, oil, or lard in the lubricator will always be kept warm and fluid by the hot steam, which must always be present in the steam-cylinder B and hollow plunger D, so long as the steam-valve h is open and the cock 0 in the drip-pipe d sufficien tly so to permit the fiowingof the condensed steam from the cylinder B and plunger D as fast as formed.

Thus, having described our invention, we claim as ours and wish to secure to ourselves by Letters Patent of the United States-- 1. A lubricator designed for introducing a lubricant into steam-mains against the pressure in the same, consisting of two cylinders having their axes on the same straight line, but one having a greater diameter than the other, and each communicating with the steammain into which the lubricant is to be forced by a pipe provided with suitable cocks or valves, a piston or plunger common to both cylinders, and having its ends adapted respectively to serve as pistons for the two cylinders, the cylinder having the smaller diameter being designed for holding the lubricant to be forced into the steam-main, and the larger cylinder and common piston for afl'ording means'for the utilization of the steampressure in the main for forcing the lubricant from the smaller cylinder into the main, substantially as specified.

2. In a lubricator for forcing a lubricant into steam-mains against the pressure in the same, and operated by the said pressure acting upon a piston in a cylinder, which, in turn, acting through a piston in a cylinder containing the lubricant, forces the the latter into the steam -main, the within-described means of obtaining the preponderance of pressure on the steam-piston necessary to force the 111- bricant into the steam-main, consisting in having the area of the same greater than that of the piston in the cylinder containing the lubricant, substantially as specified.

3. In alubricatorfor forcing alubricantinto asteam-main,thecombination, with the steamcylinder and the oil-cylinder of the same, having their axes on the same straight line, of a hollow piston or plunger common to both cylinders, closed at its extremity projecting into the oil-cylinder, but open toward the steamcylinder, the said hollow piston heated by its contained steam, derived from the steam-cylinder, serving to keep the lubricant in the oilcylinder warm and fluid, substantially as specified.

4. The combination, with the hollow plunger or piston common to the steam and oil cylinders of a lubricator, of a drip-pipe provided with a cock for drawing ofi any water or steam that may be contained or collect in the said hollow plunger or piston, substantially as specified.

5. In a lubricator designed for introducing a lubricant into steam-mains, and consisting of a steam cylinder and an oil-cylinder, the piston in the former being connected with that in the latter, so that they move together, the combination, with the steam-cylinder, of a pipe provided with a suitable valv'e connecting it with a condenser or with a. cold-water pipe, whereby, in either case, a vacuum or a partial vacuum may be produced in the steamcylinder after the completion of the stroke of the pistons and the expulsion of the lubricant from the oil-cylinder, for the purpose of retracting the pistons and filling the oil-cylinder again with the lubricant drawn into it through a suitable fitting, substantially as specified.

6. In a lnbricator for introducing a lubricant into steam-mains, consisting of a steamcylinder and an oil'cylinder, the former having the greater diameter, the two cylinders having their axes on the same straight line and opening into each other, whereby an annular shoulder is formed by the junction of the walls of the smaller cylinder with the end of the larger, and of a plunger or piston common to the two cylinders, and having its ends adapted respectively to the two, to serve as pistons, the passages 'i 41 through the walls of the larger cylinder, puttin g the interior of the same in free communication with the atmosphere, whereby the rarefaction or compression of the air in it by the movements of the piston may be prevented, substantially as specified.

7 In alubricator, the combination, with the tube connecting the oil chamber of the same with the steam-main into which the oil is to be forced, of the two cocks s and s, the tube to, branching from the connecting-tube between the two cocks, and containing the cock 8, the vertical glass tube 15, connecting at its upper extremity with the tube to, and from its lower extremity communicating with the steam-main through the tube 15, provided with the cock o, and with the atmosphere through the pet cock 2, the combination afl'ordiug means of regulating the flow of oil from the oil-chamber through the connecting-tube into the steam-main, substantially as specified.

JAMES S. DURAN.

Witnesses: S. MORRIS LILLIE.

GEORGE CLARKE, SAML. T. 301mm. 

